Mr B.
Premanand wrote a letter to Shri M.P. Veerendra Kumar, Chairman &
Managing Director, Kozhikode on 7.8.1983. He copied this letter in the
August 1993 issue of Indian Skeptic, and it reads as follows
(the words of Mr. Premanand are in Italic):

“Dear
Friend

(…) I
am writing this letter so that you may know what is happening in the
education institutions run by Satya Sai Baba in the name of Spiritual
education.

A lady
teacher was brave enough to publish a printed notice on 6.3.1980 against
the management about the pay, and the pervert sex going on in the
institution at Puramala near Quilandy. I had published the notice in the
booklet “Kerala Satya Sai Trustinde Duswadheenam” on page 35 to 39. You
know I sent this booklet to you immediately it was printed in September
1981 along with my letter dated 28.9.1981 and copies to 1) Mr. V.P.
Ramachandran, Editor, Mathrubhumi, 2) Mr. Chandran P.V., Printer and
Publisher, Mathrubhumi, 3) Mr. P. Chandu Nayar, President
Prasanthividvan Mahasabha, Kozhikode whose false letter published in
Mathrubhumi of 14.8.1979 was the cause of my letters to you, 4) Dr. P.B.
Menon, Convenor, Satya Sai Trust Kerala who kept silent over my press
conference and made Mr. P. Chandu Nayar a scapegoat to publish falsehood
in Mathrubhumi and 5) Justice V. Balakrishna Eradi, deligated member of
the Central Satya Sai Trust as member of the Kerala Trust. You all
received the letters on the following days: yourself on 29.9.1981, Mr.
P.V. Ramachandranl on 1.10.1981, Mr. P.V. Chandran on 30.9.1981, Mr. P.
Chandu Nayar on 3.10.1981, Dr. P.B. Menon on 29.9.1981 on 30.9.1981 and
Justice V. Balakrishna Eradi on 30.9.1981.

I made
enquiries about Mr. P. Chandu Naya who falsely accused me through
Mathrubhumi Daily on 14.8.1979. I was surprised to know that he was in
the police department at Cochin and was forced to leave the services for
some activities at Malabar Hotel, Cochin and it was because of the
influence of Satya Sai Baba he escaped prosecution along with Mr. N.P.
Naik a Customs Clearing Agent and Mr. Iyer a magistrate. As the I.G. of
police Trivandrum refused to give me information on Mr. P. Chandu Nayar
and I was advised by him to write to Mr P. Chandu Nayar himself, I wrote
a letter to Mr. P. Chandu Nayar to know if the incident was true on
15.12.1979 received by him on 3.1.1980.

His
remaining so silent over the letter, points to the Truth behind it. It
was this Mr. P. Chandu Nayar’s letter that Mathrubhumi Daily published
on 14.8.1979. Later I was informed by the police department personally
that information on police personnel cannot be divulged to public except
on written orders. This is really a sad state of affairs as when
photographs of the criminals are exhibited in the police head-quarters,
the public also ought to have been warned about the police officers
about their activities so that the general public are not exploited by
them. You know hundreds of women, unmarried girls, widows, married women
in search of peace and happiness, attend the meeting of the Prasanthi
Vidwan Mahasbha and what cannot happen there with persons like Mr. P.
Chandu Nayar? If the information I got on Mr P. Chandu Nayar is wrong I
would request him to write to me by giving me full detail s of the
complaint filed against him by the two anglo Indian girls from Calcutta
who were staying in Malabar Hotel at that time.

I am
coming to the purpose of writing this letter to you. I am so much upset
by this news. I have the records of more than a hundred persons
destroyed by the Satya Sai Baba gang beginning with one Mr. Venkatamuni
of Madres who was done away at Madurai in an air conditioned room and
then after getting death certificates from doctors taken to Madras by
Satya Sai Baba in his own car and cremated without giving any
information to the police and thus hushing up the matter. Afterwards the
doctors who gave the death certificates also succumbed to death. In
these deaths the mode of operation is in five ways:

1.
Death by car accidents.

2.
Death by Heart failure.

3.
Death by poisoning.

4.
Death by hanging.

5.
Death by drowning.

In the
third para of this letter I have informed you about the notice
distributed by the lady teacher of the Satya Sai Vidya Peeth at Puramala
near Quilandy. A copy of that notice was sent to me by the husband of
the lady teacher. Then itself I had replied him that he being alone he
will be harassed by the Satya Sai Baba Trust who have high influence in
Government, Police and Judiciary and so he may loose his job also, thus
to strangulate him economically and so he should be careful. The press,
especially Mathrubhumi who say that they stand for Truth ought to have
enquired into the matter published in the notice by meeting the teachers
who have been dismissed every year and also meet the parents of the
students who have stopped sending their wards to this school and found
out the Truth and published about such truth. Instead you know what you
are doing, you are publishing the letter of Mr. P. Chandu Nayar and the
divinity of Satya Sai Baba the self proclaimed god of all the gods. The
copy of my letter to you dated 28.9.1981 was posted to five others as
mentioned in para 3 of this letter. You also know that I have filed a
complaint with the Press Council of India, because your editor Mr. V.P.
Ramachandran didnot publish my reply to the letter of Mr. P. Chandu
Nayar which was totally false even if you take into consideration or the
news published by you earlier beginning from 1970.

Because the Press Council had accepted my complaint, I thought that
witnesses may be necessary and I wrote a letter to Mr. Chandrachoodan
who was the husband of the teacher who was dismissed for the notice. The
letter came back with the inscription “EXPIRED”. So I again wrote to his
wife and I was shocked to know that she also expired. When I enquired I
found that the whole family, Mr. & Mrs. Chandrachoodan and their 4 year
child died of poisoning at Palani on 30.10.1981 just one month from the
date of receipt of my letter of 28.9.1981 by Justice V. Balakrishna
Eradi, Dr. P.B. Menon and P. Chandu Nayar. I am informed that the cause
for death was unknown. From the investigations I have conducted about
the hundreds of such deaths who once were with Satya Sai Baba, I have to
doubt that this is also a murder as they were in the know of what was
happening in the school. The police have simply closed the case as
suicide by poison. After coming to know of this death I searched the old
copies of the newspapers and found that this death news was published by
Mathrubhumi and Malayala Manorama on 4.11.1981. Luckily I had purchased
some copies of this days newspapers as the news of gifting 13 acres of
our land in Shrishaila to Keltron so that it would help about 400
families to earn their livelihood by sweat.

You
know about Rev. Jim Jones who spent huge sums to bring to his fold the
newspapers who published against him. Even the American Government gave
Jim Jones awards for his humanitarian work! But it was the braveness of
a few journalists and a councellor who could not be purchased by money
or any other bait who exposed him at the risk of their life. Whole bunch
of the group were shot by the Jim Jones gang but because in their dare
devil fight three could survive the whole gang committed suicide as they
could not face the people and the world!

What
is happening here about Satya Sai Baba is not different. The corrupt
people in the government and outside are helped to come out of the
charges against them and in their turn they become the inner circle
members of the Satya Sai Baba and afterwards blackmailed for life. If
some of them try to struggle out from the octopus paws of this god they
are done with. In the beginning he had tried to play with our life also
but because of the vast publicity we got we are still living. I also
understand that at the last years meeting of the Satya Sai Baba inner
circle members I was the main point for discussion as to why I am left
shot free. I am now starting my tour all over India to demonstrate all
the miracles of Satya Sai Baba and other godmen and expose them and talk
on “Scientific Temper”. I know it is at the risk of my life. But death
is imminent to ever one, even if you believe or not in gods, godmen or
miracles and so I march on…

By the
time you receive this letter hundreds and thousands of copies of his
letter will have reached my friends and well wishers and I want to know
what you have to say about the matter and I hope to receive your letter
and so also from the under mentioned persons if there is even a speck of
untruth in this pointing that to me. Please let me know what you are
going to do in this.

At that
time I had come across only five ways of murders at the ashrams and
educational institutions of the godman and now we have to add two more,
i.e. murder by burning and murder by police shooting. The murder by
burning after murder, was published in Indian Skeptic first issue of may
1988, and though the students of the Junior college agitated the case
was hushed up by the police as suicide by burning.

The
first murder I came across was the case of a business man found hanging
in the ashram premises. Then another hanging by a girl at the Satya Sai
Women’s College at Anantapur and the then principal of the college Mrs.
Damayanti Doongaji resigned from the institution.

Only
two newspapers had published about the homosexual activity of the Baba.
The following letters from Hariram Jayaram from Malaysia dated 14.3.1981
being from an advocate of repute who earlier wanted to take legal action
against V. Veeramanai, Secretary, Dravida Kazhakam, should be an eye
opener to the parents who send their wards to the Baba’s educational
institutions.

Your
name has been given to me by Mr. V.A. Menon, the editor of Dr. Kovoor’s
books.

I
understand that you have written tow books, namely, “Lure of Miracles”
and “Divine Octopus”. I am enclosing herewith the UAB Bank Draft No.
16/043/406 for Rs.50/-. Please despatch these books by Airmail to me. If
the sum I have remitted is not sufficient, kindly let me know the sum
due from me and I will make payment of the same promptly.

Mr.
V.A. Menon has informed that you know Sathya Sai Baba very closely.

I was
until recently an ardent follower of Sathya Sai Baba. To my surprise and
that of the surprise of his many devotees in Malaysia, Sathya Sai Baba
carried out homosexual activities on the Malaysian students studying in
his Colleges. When I came to know of the same, I dropped out from the
Sai movement.

Many
people in this Country are looking for materials on Sathya Sai Baba to
read and circulate. Your two books will be of great help to me. I
already have in possession, Dr. Kovoor’s books and the “Lord of the Air”
by Tal Brooke. If you have any other materials in the form of newspaper
cuttings please let me have them or send the photostat copies of the
same to me. The materials can be in English, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu or
Kannada.

All
expenses incurred by you in obtaining the materials will be paid for by
me.

Kindly
let me hear from you.

Yours
faithfully,

HARIRAM JAYARAM”

When a lady teacher published about the dark side of the Baba’s
educational institution in Kerala, she was dismissed and later
newspapers published that she committed suicide along with her husband
and child. When I came to know about this I found some of the Baba’s
inner circle members were also camping at Palani and the way in which
the police conducted the post mortem and inquiries suppressing the
reports even to the family members brings suspicion. What is needed is
an inquiry into the educational institutions of the Baba by persons who
are not connected with him in any manner and who could not be purchased.
Now even those who are out of grace are afraid to talk anything against
him and this is what one of the earlier personal aide of the Baba M.
Krishna had to say bout his experiences which is published in the book
Modern Miracles.

Page
165: Then some years later, Krishna fell into disgrace. And when Baba
sent him out, the reason was that Swami accused him of misbehaving with
an old woman of 60, a servant in the temple, in the mandir. And do you
believe this story? Certainly don’t. Krishna is one of the very few
people Baba has been very close to. At one time he was even carried with
Baba in the palanquin during processions. “What Arjuna was to Krishna,
Krishna is to me,” Baba used to say. I do not think anyone has been so
close to Swami after him. Perhaps Raja Reddy later on, but Krishna was
the last person with whom that close youth friendship was there.

(…
Etc.)

INDIAN
EXPRESS (Coimbatoire Ed.) 9.6.1993

He (Andrah
Pradesh Home Minister Mysoore Reddy) also denied knowledge of the
reported murder of a Swedish woman in the ashram sometime back and the
pursuit of Baba’s car by some persons when he was proceeding from
Hyderabad to Suryapet a decade ago. “You write all sorts of gossip and
want me to comment on it. I am a responsible man”, the angry Home
Minister said.

The
Minister had no answer when asked whether newspapers were
“irresponsible”. He wondered why the press was making such a fuss about
the Sai Baba incident as it was a “case like any other.” As the scribes
sought more information, the home minister abruptly declared that the
press conference was “over”.

THE
TELEGRAPH 10.6.1993

An
Australian lady, who was also a member of the Trust (belonging to the
faction of the ousted secretary of the trust) was murdered in her room
in Prasanthi Nilayam seven months ago but the entire incident was hushed
up.

While
over 80% of the sum is spent in maintenance of the Ashram’s educational
institutions and the Super Speciality Hospital at Puttaparthi, the left
over amounting to Rs. 25 crores, goes to the trustees and key aides of
the godman.

INDIAN
EXPRESS Vizianagaram Ed. 18.6.1993

One of
Baba’s relative is believed to have raised crores of rupees for a real
estate project, from unsuspecting devotees, by using Baba’s name. In
order to prevent the scandal from blowing up, the old-timers got
advertisements inserted in local papers, disassociating the Sai
Organisations from the housing project. Ever since the faction led by
the relative is believed to have gone on an offensive.

DECCAN
CHRONICLE – 10.6.1993:

They
(police officers) talk of “murky happenings” in the ashram over the last
few years. In this context , the revelation made by a doctor of the
nearby government civil hospital is startling. The doctor said a number
of unidentified dead bodies particularly those of women, were brought to
the hospital from Prashanti Nilayam by the police in the past. Post
mortem on the bodies mostly revealed death due to suspicious
circumstances and signs of rape, he said.

SUNDAY
– 20-26 June 1993:

Gossip
had it that several boy students at the educational institutions run by
the Baba had committed suicides after being sexually abused. But the
reports were not shored up by any evidence, and the ashram authorities
soon succeeded in suppressing them.

INDIAN
EXPRESS – 2.7.1993

THE
MAFIA SET-UP: Prabhu and Ravindranath charge that the Satya Sai Seva
Organisation, and the Prashanti Development Committee and the trust are
led by people who packed he ashram with their henchmen. Devotees who
oppose them are sent out, they allege.

Some
of the trust members can be charged with rape, murder and pilfering of
funds. Both the fugitives estimate the trust funds to be Rs.500 crore in
cash alone. A trust member’s son-in-law runs a hotel at Puttaparthy
where various nefarious activities are allegedly conducted.

A
Congress leader in Bombay takes care of immovable properties offered to
Sai Baba from abroad. All such properties in the country or abroad are
registered in the name of individual trustees or their men At Guindy, in
Madras, one of them have built a factory on such property. In Bangalore,
10 acres prime land near Whitefield was used for constructing flats for
NRIs, the two allege.

CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES: Local thugs are engaged to murder marked foreign
devotees, the victims faces are burnt beyond recognition and their
bodies are disposed of in the nearby hills, they allege.

Prashanti, a doctor, was recently sacked after she lodged a complaint
that another doctor, close to a trust member, tried to rape here. The
trust instead charged her with having illicit relations with a van
cleaner.

The
body of a murdered woman, a foreigner, was also found in the ashram.
Following this, Baba asked the devotees not to stay in Prasanti Nilayam
during his absence. Another foreign woman lodged a complaint against an
important trust member alleging a molestation attempt. Two drivers who
knew too much about the goings-on were sacked. And scores of ardent
devotees were thrown out of the ashram, Prabhu and Ravindranath alleged.

In
spite of Baba’s no to site near the ashram which the trust wanted to
acquire, the owner of the shop situated on the plot was threatened. The
Gopuram gate was closed, as a result of which he began losing business.
Moreover devotees were told not to go to his shop and violators of this
unwritten law were punished, they say.

They
say Baba won’t touch a single paisa of lakhs of donations paid to him at
the ashram every day. But the trust members ask donors to give
travellers cheques only which are easy to embezzle, they claim.

DECCAN
HERALD – 18.7.1993

Residents of Puttaparthi will tell you that it is now a “public secret”
that there were two groups among those who run the day-to-day affairs at
Prasanthi Nilayam. One of the factions represents the interests of a
very close relative of Sai Baba and the other is on the side of another
band of individuals holding sway over the ashram.

Both
factions however comprise people drawn from various walks of life
including former and present bureaucrats, retired defence officers and
top businessmen. An insider informed this corespondent that these people
cared more for the patronage of powerful politicians than the blessings
of Baba.

The
prime concern of these rival groups, according to the insider, is to
retain a hold on the massive assets of Prashanthi Nilayam, the value of
which runs into thousands of crores of rupees.

Ironically, these groups are responsible for raising the stink even as
Baba continues on his life’s mission of spreading the “fragrance of
love” for humanity.

Over
the years, the shady goings-on in the ashram have surfaced several
times, but they have remained a secret as the police were rarely allowed
to intervene even if they smelled something foul.

The
local people have any number of stories relating to unnatural deaths
from the ashram that often go uninvestigated. The Chitravathi river that
passes through Puttaparthi, they say, has carried along with it many
unidentified floating bodies.

There
are much more allegations coming in the press which we shall bring
before our readers on a future date.